Advice on washing!

[Kid]

My 2.5 yr old daughter is always getting into a mess. Whether its chocolate, pens, make up, she always ruins her clothes. I have tried so many products but nothing seems to work. Does any one have any advice on what I could use rather than having to throw lots of clothes away?

Kid, I don't have a magic solution - no pun intended.

A plastic apron is a great clothes-saver, of course. If my son's clothes get badly stained, I keep bunging them in the washing machine until the stain has faded. A good soak with biotex before washing can be effective, too.

Also I avoid pastel colours if I can. Darker colours or denim don't show stains so much. And of course whites can be bleached, at a pinch, as long as there's no residual bleach left to irritate young skin.

Kid, I'm in exactly the same boat with my two (nearly three twin daughters). Every top comes out of the wash with a mark left by orange juice, ice cream etc. We use bleach alot but it's not a great solution as we're getting very bored of off-white. Tried vanish on an old chocolate stain but it had zero effect. Please can someone help?

I have used washing up liquid on stains before that works quite well, it got most of the tar I sat on while at the beach off a silky blouse.

Another idea. A plastic pelican bib is great for catching ice cream drips etc. When you take your daughter out, bring one along for those messy ice cream and fast food situations.

Kid, lots of old/cheap clothes! My oldest (nearly 6) has always been just like this, and unfortunately doesn't seem to have got any better. She now knows when to get her 'scruffs' on, ie any time she's in the garden, painting, drawing - just living really. If she's got her 'nice' clothes on she is expected to be more careful, and she does try, she just gets so involved in what she is doing she loses track of 'unessential' things. Try and see it as a quite nice character trait - after all, you wouldn't want her to be the sort of child who didn't join in incase she got dirty, and accept that she probably won't change. Our youngest (4) has never got as dirty and rarely stains her clothes. We just buy lots of t-shirts etc from poundstretcher/ethel austin/argos and let her get on with it. Oh, Ace bleach does sometimes work if you're desperate, but she walks round in a lot of clothes with pen/ paint & chocolate ice-cream (the worst) stains on them.

As soon as the stain is there, don't let it dry, I use a Vanish stick (like a deodorant, rub it on the area and leave to soak.

For sticky, mucky lollies etc, mine take their t-shirts off.

I've got some yellow emulsion on a cotton shirt I can't get it out, any ideas anyone?

I hate to sound like an advert, but I use the Vanish In-Wash tablets, and they really do seem to work. I even considered writing to them & offering myself for their ads - I gave birth unexpectedly at home & there was consequently a lot of blood & gore around. I washed everything using these tablets, & there were no stains!
I now use them in most washes (with a quick squirt of Biotex spray first for really bad stains) & I rarely have problems with marks left on clothes.

Just another quick advert - I soak all stained stuff in nappisan before the wash - and add a bit to the wash for luck! This has beaten all the 'normal' stain removers I've tried in terms of performance - esp with food stains

Jgb - you just might have saved my white shirt that I had given up hope with. Will whack wash on in a minute and let you know how it fares!

Domestic disaster - I emptied the laundry ( damp) out of washing machine - got distracted & forgot now I have come back to it and the bottom (very expensive) shirt at the bottom has got covered in woody brown stains off the wicker type basket. Oh No. Hubbie will flip. It's in a bucket of cold water right now. I've got Boots nappy clease but it says not suitable for use on coloured clothes - shirt is pale blue. Any miracle cures or words of wisdom out there?
Apart from don't use a wicker basket, don't be forgetful don't be so stupid etc etc - all helpful comments from mil

I've recently found liquid Vanish (bright pink bottle) very good at removing stains. You can pour it over the stains and leave for 10 minutes then put it on a wash. You can add more of the Vanish into the soap dispenser, let it run into the machine then add powder as normal.

I had been having lots of trouble getting food stains out of my dd clothes. Mostly food spills at Nursery which weren't soaked therefore had all day to 'set'. The large Vanish (2 litre?) costs £2.89 at Safeway but at the moment our local Asda have it on special for £1.49. My cupboard is full of them!!! Hope this helps..........

Oh no, Bo! Has the stain come out yet? Don't know what to advise, except run the shirt through washing machine a few times.

I'll go out & see what local shop has on offer - have to wait till nap time over. I have a vanish bar but I found it's totally useless on everything I've tried it on so far!

Lots of stains, and I know that this is definitely true for blood, should be treated with icy cold water for best results. I'm not sure of the chemistry behind this but I know that hot water "sets" some stains in the material and you can wash them 'till they are virtually threadbare and the stains will still be there. I find Vanish is excellent on some stains but only if used quickly and with cold water.

Bo, try www.tipking.com. I put washing stains into google search engine and it came up with this and several others.

You never know you may find the answer during nap time!

There is a product called Oxiclean which I found when we were living in Canada but I guess it is available on the net or on a shopping channel. It was the only thing I have found to get rid of food stains on bibs, t-shirts etc and can also be used on carpets/sofas etc. It is supposed to be designed for 'organic' stains which pretty much covers most things my two kids can come up with!

Message withdrawn

I found dd seven worked on varnish stains on my shirts(putting them down on a chair back and forgetting about them for an hour after emptying the machine) - again it might fade the material though but if your shirt is white....?

Bo - just read your message again - not too sure what would happen with pale blue - is there a spare bit of seam inside that you could test these products on - also vanish used in excess leads to fading if you only use it on one spot - I ruined a skirt that way.

Napisan
Big Kev's stain remover
Salt for red wine
Napisan's the best

i have found the blue label stain devils to be a good last resort measure. I leave to soak for 24 hours. Has even got rid of old chocolate ice cream stain BUT can cause colours to fade so really if all else fails and nothing to lose on coloureds!